Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Full Meltdown lineup


Tickets for all of the newly announced shows will go on sale to Southbank members at 10 am on Friday April 13th. General sale at 10 am on Monday April 16th.

Was asked what the best strategy is for getting tickets for Curaetion-25. I'm thinking go and camp out at the box office, have a phone to try calling in, and another device to try buying online, all at the same time. :)

Seriously, though, you saw what happened in the first wave of ticket sales. This won't be pretty, and A LOT of fans are going to be disappointed. It's a small show and demand will be extremely high.

Also, if you're not a Southbank Centre member, your chances of getting tickets is even lower. Almost non-existent. Hate to say it, because you shouldn't have to pay that extra fee, but it's true.

Royal Festival Hall

June 15th - Psychedelic Furs and The Church⠀

June 16th - Placebo and kaelan mikla⠀

June 17th - The Libertines and Yonaka⠀

June 18th - Death Cab for Cutie and Fear of Men

June 19th - Manic Street Preachers and The Anchoress

June 20th - Deftones and pg.lost⠀

June 21st - Mogwai and Kathryn Joseph⠀

June 22nd - Nine Inch Nails and Black Moth Super Rainbow⠀

June 23rd - My Bloody Valentine and The Soft Moon ⠀

June 24th - CURÆTION-25 - Robert Smith and 'Curious Friends' and The Twilight Sad

Curator Robert Smith closes the 25th Meltdown festival with an exclusive two-hour show at Royal Festival Hall.

He is joined onstage by four of his curious friends – and other, imaginary accompanists – to perform special interpretations based on a very particular selection of songs he has sung throughout the years.


Queen Elizabeth Hall⠀

June 15th - 65daysofstatic and Tropic of Cancer⠀

June 15th - Concrete Lates: Kiasmos DJ set

June 16th - The Notwist and Drahla⠀

June 16th - Concrete Lates: Vessels DJ set and live

June 17th - Alcest and Emma Ruth Rundle⠀

June 18th - God is an Astronaut and Jambinai

June 19th - Frightened Rabbit and Pumarosa

June 20th - Low and Jo Quail

June 20th - Jónsi, Alex Somers & Paul Corley: Liminal

June 21st - Kristin Hersh and Matt Holubowski

June 21st - Jónsi, Alex Somers & Paul Corley: Liminal

June 22nd - Mono and Jo Quail

June 22nd - Jónsi, Alex Somers & Paul Corley: Liminal

June 23rd - Suzanne Vega and James Walsh

June 23rd - Concrete Lates: Eat Static DJ set

June 24th - Maybeshewill and I Like Trains


Purcell Room

June 15th - Joycut and Indian Queens

June 16th - Jambinai and Tropic of Cancer

June 17th - Loop and Planning For Burial

June 18th - Emma Ruth Rundle and Planning for Burial

June 19th - Vex Red and Douglas Dare

June 20th - Moon Duo and Hilary Woods

June 21st - pg.lost and Thought Forms

June 22nd - The Joy Formidable and Kidsmoke

June 23rd - And Also the Trees and A Dead Forest Index

June 24th - The Soft Moon and The KVB

Posted by Craig at 5:21 AM

Monday, April 9, 2018

Robert interview on BBC 6 Tuesday morning!


If you missed it, or want to listen again, you can find the interview here.

Some highlights from the interview (taken from the BBC 6 Music tweets):

Robert Smith on how it feels to be “cure-rating” : “it’s galvanised me, and I’ve booked studio time for the band! The first time I was aware of it when it was it curated by John Peel... The most memorable for me was seeing Bowie performing Low.”

Robert Smith on curating Meltdown: “They said ‘go ahead, book whoever you want’... Obviously for my dream festival some of the people are dead... I was surprised how immediate people said yes! It was so heartwarming.”

“I felt I had probably said enough... I was waiting until there was something new to start talking about... in the modern world people speak endlessly about nothing...” - Robert Smith on not doing interviews for the past few years.

“I’m probably going to do something on my own on stage.” - one of Robert Smith’s plans for the finale of but it may also be him and “four of my closest musical friends.”

“I’ve still got the poster from the Rocket Club in Crawley!” says Robert Smith and he’s found a side of stage recording of that first ever gig, 40 years ago, at Worth Abbey. (Note: And said he plans on releasing it. Yes, yes, I know, I'm just telling you what he said. :) )

“I’ve booked us time to do demos next month... in a dream world we’ll have a new song to play in the summer.” - Robert Smith on whether there will be new music this year. “What Meltdown has done, by listening lots of new music, it’s invigorated me.. I feel like I want to join in”

“I think we’ll end up going around the world next year... I think we’ll be recognising some anniversaries next Year too. Like our first Album and Disintegration, maybe.” (Note: He said they've already booked some things. It will be a mix of Cure shows, festivals, and those special anniversary type shows,)

And a few other things:

Robert actually invited The Rolling Stones to play , but they declined. They were too busy with their own shows this Summer.

He hints that The Cure will be headlining , but completely different to Hyde Park, little more weird, and different configurations, different songs, and special guests, so not really a Cure show. Hyde Park is still the only place you will see The Cure playing in Europe this year.

Doesn't feel that The Cure should play a regular show at , because it wouldn't be fair to those who bought tickets for Hyde Park thinking it would be the only Cure show in Europe this year, as it has been advertised.

Some articles covering this: Slicing Up Eyeballs, Radio X, Post-Punk, NME, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Riot Fest, CoS, Clash, Spin, Louder Sound, List, Noisey
Posted by Craig at 2:33 PM

Saturday, April 7, 2018

More Meltdown artists revealed

Added to the event: Curaetion-25 (not sure if this is just the name being given to this 25th edition of Meltdown or something Cure related), And Also The Trees, Emma Ruth Rundle, Frightened Rabbit, God Is An Astronaut, Jambinai, Joycut, The Joy Formidable, Loop, Low, Maybeshewill, Moon Duo, The Soft Moon, and Vex Red.

That's according to this ad in Q magazine. The official announcement will be made at 10am on April 10th. These tickets will go on sale to Southbank Centre members on April 13th at 10am.

Thanks, @Torrence79!


Posted by Craig at 8:37 AM

Photos of the new 'Mixed Up' RSD vinyl

Posted by Craig at 8:36 AM

Cure in WLIR Documentary


From Rolling Stone:

" 'Dare to Be Different': See New Doc on Radio Station That Broke U2, Cure in U.S.

"Mainstream American music wasn't breaking new bounds ... WLIR fueled something loud, smelly and different," Billy Idol says in clip

The new documentary about the influential Long Island radio station WLIR is coming to Showtime on March 30th. New Wave: Dare to Be Different focuses on how the station helped break some of the biggest British bands of the Eighties like U2, the Cure, the Smiths, New Order, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode in the United States.

Dare to Be Different features interviews with WLIR program director Denis McNamara, other members of the station crew and an array of artists including Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, Depeche Mode and Erasure's Vince Clarke and the B-52's Fred Schneider. "

Lol Tolhurst is also interviewed.

Update (April 7th, 2018): First 5 minutes of New Wave: Dare To Be Different, the WLIR documentary, includes 'In Between Days' playing during a segment, clips of the IBD video, and a radio station ID from Robert. 25 minutes in, Lol tells the story about The Cure coming to America, looking to buy the Twinkies they saw advertised in Marvel comics.
Posted by Craig at 8:35 AM

"Robert" 's 1st tweet


As @slicingeyeballs pointed out, it isn't ALL CAPS, so probably just his social media person, not actually Robert. And Robert has said that the only place he actually posts updates himself is TheCure.com. Not Twitter or Facebook or anywhere else.

Update (March 16th, 2018): The @RobertSmith and @thecure accounts have finally been verified. Now you know that any other accounts claiming to be Robert or The Cure are fakes. If you're ever in doubt, check for the verification check mark. Unfortunately, the @reevesgabrels account, which has recently had to deal with an imposter trying to scam fans, is still waiting. Get on that, Twitter!

Update (April 7th, 2018): We have two more verified accounts now. Congratulations and ! Now let's get & verified!
Posted by Craig at 8:35 AM

Reeves playing on a new blues track

Greetings Friends, Family, Associates & Acquaintances,

"Release #10 in The Need To Know's Badass Blues Instrumentals Series is Macha Cha Cha featuring the musical sorcery of my friend and sometimes bandmate (Magnificent Others & Sonic Mining Company), Reeves Gabrels. As you probably know, Reeves played guitar and produced David Bowie from '87 through the '90's including Tin Machine. Reeves has been a member of The Cure sine 2012.

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Deszon Claiborne (Robben Ford) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA and mixed by the mighty Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden). Masterful mastering by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering.

Please buy it, like it, share it, stream it, and dig it!

iTunes: https://apple.co/2I50VJY
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2GqDQnN
Amazon: http://a.co/e1NbtPQ
Google Play: https://goo.gl/igwV6n
YouTube: https://bit.ly/2pJ0jlA

Cheers and thanks,
Frank & Brian
Need To Know Music / Skunkworks Studio"
Posted by Craig at 8:34 AM

Thomas Dolby and Rick Springfield cover 'Just Like Heaven'

Posted by Craig at 8:30 AM

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Tim's David Bowie 50th Birthday Concert film screens at r7al Festival tonight



Get tickets here.
Posted by Craig at 8:22 AM

Tim's 40th Anniversary documentary "is unlikely to be finished this year"

From a Variety story about Tim Pope's new film 'Drone':

"Pope said he would be working on music videos with four bands this year – The Cure, The The, Soft Cell and Neil Young – but hoped to be working on “Drone” after that. “I want to be shooting my film by this time next year,” he said.

This year, Pope is also working on a feature documentary about The Cure’s 40 years in the music business, which will include archive footage supplied by the band’s front-man, Robert Smith.

“Robert Smith is giving me access to 50 boxes of film, which have never been seen before, of the early Cure days,” Pope said. “I want to make a film like ‘Goodfellas’ where Robert is narrating the film in a first-person way, and it is like crazy and we are on this journey.” He added, “Robert’s songs always deal with being the outsider.”

Pope started working with the band in 1981 and last worked with them on a music video in 1997 – on which his runner was Guy Ritchie. Pope toured with the band across six countries three years ago.

The Cure documentary is unlikely to be finished this year, Pope said."
Posted by Craig at 7:26 AM

Meltdown ticket warning


From an email from Southbank: "It is against Southbank Centre's terms and conditions to resell tickets, including using third party websites such as Viagogo, Getmein and Stubhub. Any tickets that are resold will be cancelled and the purchaser will be refused admittance.

If you can no longer make the event you can exchange your tickets for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the concert. To prevent resale, we are going to post tickets and email e-tickets so that you receive them 7-10 days prior to each event"

Thanks, @mattsmudge.
Posted by Craig at 7:20 AM

Meltdown mentions




From a Drowned in Sound interview with Nicky from Manic Street Preachers:

This summer you've been invited by Robert Smith to play the Southbank Centre as part of his curation at this year's Meltdown festival, as well as supporting Guns'n'Roses on the German and Danish legs of their European tour. How did both of those come about, which one are you looking forward to the most, and will you be doing anything special for either?

You mean something like our cover of 'It's So Easy' except with slightly dodgy lyrics? We did rehearse it and it sounded OK but I don't know if I can sing those words where we are now 25 years later! We do have a couple of special things planned for The Cure's Meltdown show which James is working on. We had an email from Robert Smith asking us to play, which is lovely as he's one of our heroes.
Posted by Craig at 7:19 AM

The Cure - A Perfect Dream book to be released in Sept/Oct.


Amazon pre-order links for The Cure - A Perfect Dream:
UK (Sept. 6th, 2018) / US (Oct. 2nd, 2018)

Thanks, Paul.
Posted by Craig at 7:18 AM

Is 'The Top' underrated?


Posted by Craig at 7:18 AM

Photos from Reeves' recent shows





And here's a video of them playing COGASM's 'A Sign from God' at the Austin show on March 17th, 2018. Thanks, The Cure Press Cuttings.
Posted by Craig at 7:17 AM

Tim Pope at r7al film festival



Posted by Craig at 7:15 AM

2 new Robert Smith enamel pins



Both pins, along with Siouxsie and Nick Cave pins, will be available here starting at 8 PM eastern on March 27th, 2018.
Posted by Craig at 7:12 AM

Cure vector project

Posted by Craig at 7:10 AM

Push - A Cure Fanzine issue 1 now available


Posted by Craig at 7:00 AM

40 poems for 40 years of The Cure


From Other Voices 40:

"We are looking to publish forty contemporary poems, to celebrate forty years of The Cure. We will accept submissions of original,unpublished poetry from around the world, of forty lines maximum length to be considered. There is no payment for publication, successful poets will receive a copy of the anthology, fancy or unconventional formatting is not encouraged. Please submit your work either as a word document on in body of your email to othervoices40@gmail.com we’d also like a biography of up to 100 words. We look forward to hearing from you."
Posted by Craig at 7:00 AM
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